Prison Reform Movement

The United States Criminal Justice System is flawed- broken beyond repair. Prisons should be abolished. Treatment and social safety nets could effectively replace what we have in place now. Until society can finally come to terms with no prisons and jails, we will continue to advocate for Prison and Criminal Justice reforms.

Posts here are NOT always my work. See disclaimer in the 'about' section. This blog serves as a Public Service Announcement.

Crime Victims United of California: A powerful voice in state politics

Image via Wikipedia

The victims group is aligned with the prison guards union. ( rumors abound that the president of CCPOA had an ‘affair’ with Nina Salarno….)

By Joshua Page

5:34 PM PDT, June 3, 2011

Advertisement

Soon after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its recent decision that California would have to reduce its prison population to relieve overcrowding, a representative of Crime Victims United of California took to the airwaves with harrowing predictions. “It’s a disaster,” Nina Salarno Ashford, a board member of the group, told an interviewer. “They’re going to be letting sex offenders out. They’re going to be letting kidnappers out. They’re going to be letting a whole host of really bad people back into California without the resources to protect the good citizens of California.”

It was not surprising that Crime Victims United was given airtime in the wake of the opinion. For more than two decades, journalists and politicians have treated the group as the primary voice of California’s crime victims. Representatives such as Salarno Ashford routinely speak as if they are representative of all victims. But Crime Victims United has a particular, and particularly punitive, perspective on criminal justice, one that has been shaped over the years by its most powerful ally: the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the union that represents the state’s prison guards.

The alliance between the victims group and the guards dates to 1990, when former union President Don Novey met Harriet Salarno (Nina Salarno Ashford’s mother) at a parole hearing for the man who murdered Salarno’s other daughter, Catina, in 1979. At the time, Salarno led support groups for victims and their families and lobbied state legislators (with little success) to pass victim-friendly legislation.

Soon after the parole hearing, Novey’s union decided to bankroll the formation of Crime Victims United of California, with Salarno at the helm. The union provided the group, which consists of both a legislative advocacy arm and political action committees that endorse and provide financial backing to candidates, with seed money, office space, lobbying staff and attorneys. And Novey personally taught its leaders how to play political hardball. As Salarno once put it, Novey “steered us in the right direction, opened the door and taught us what to do. He educated us.”

The union had a strong personal interest in developing the victims group, which it realized could be an effective ally in achieving the guards’ policy objectives: enhancing members’ pay and benefits, keeping private prisons out of California and promoting “tough on crime” sentencing laws. Crime Victims United shares the union’s commitment to lengthy, harsh mandatory sentencing laws such as “three strikes.” The alliance has been good for both partners.

For example, in 2005 the guards and Salarno’s group strongly opposed then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s efforts to reform the parole system. The union financed a frightening television ad featuring Salarno and Salarno Ashford accusing the governor of compromising public safety and defying crime victims. The spot concluded with the elder Salarno scolding, “You promised to stand with victims, governor. You let us down.”

As Schwarzenegger quickly learned, the union and the victims group it has mentored were a formidable political force. The union has the financial resources, political acumen and connections, and the victims’ group has a nearly untouchable moral authority. Together, they’re hard to beat.

But their success has had a downside. When Crime Victims United turns complicated criminal justice matters into simple choices between helping and hurting victims, reasoned debate and thoughtful policymaking are necessarily constricted. Lawmakers are reluctant to oppose advocates like Salarno for fear that they will be tarred in the media and targeted in future elections. No politician wants to stand against a woman whose daughter was murdered and be deemed soft on crime. With financing from the guards, the victims group has the resources to seriously help or damage a politician’s image and career.

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

Published by

Prison Reform Movement

I am Against the death penalty, believe that the United States Judicial System is flawed, yet fixable; Prison Reform and Sentencing Reform should be major agenda's for each state- we need to stop warehousing prisoners and ready those who are going to parole. I believe in Restorative Justice.
Inmate rehabilitation improves public safety and lowers prison costs.
“We have to care because we can't afford not to".
View all posts by Prison Reform Movement

2 thoughts on “Crime Victims United of California: A powerful voice in state politics”

Gotta wonder what’s in this for Ashford since the Guards’ union wants to badly to get in bed with Crime Victims United. Must be some kind of “payback” cause being “USED” by the Guards’ Union is just as victimizing as being the victim of a crime.

What part of that does the Crime Victims United group NOT understand. They are being used to further bankrupt the state of CA by supporting the goals of additional pay, benefits, etc., for the CA prison guards’ union. Oh, I get it, they are for SALE…So all this high-horse “we are so abused” morality is our catchphrase…all of that posturing is really not so much about what’s good for the victims of crime, as it is for the people whose jobs (Prison Guards’ Union) they are supporting. What patsies! Bend over Crime Victims United. You are going to become a victim…again.

You know who the REAL victims of crime are, the ones who are no longer around to have their voices heard and HAVE to recourse to overcome their victimization. The people who cannot get help to learn how to deal with their victimization, AND, the children of prisoners.

People have NO idea what kind of harm this does to the kids of inmates…changes their lives forever. Not only do they have to live with only one parent’s support (physical, emotional, financial), they have to overcome the tendency to follow the footsteps of their incarcerated parent. Who’s screaming at the top of their lungs on behalf of inmates’ kids. No one. The parent whose still at home is too busy just putting food on the table to have a “union”.

Crime Victim’s Union is upside down. You do NOT change the world by further victimizing other people (CA prison guards’ union victimizing you, you victimizing inmates, etc.) You change the world by example and by reaching out.
No one loves a martyr.

Matter of fact, these lonely parents are often treated like criminals themselves, JUST for supporting and loving their inmate spouse/partner. THATs a real crime.

Post navigation

Prison Reform Movement

The United States Criminal Justice System is flawed- broken beyond repair. Prisons should be abolished. Treatment and social safety nets could effectively replace what we have in place now. Until society can finally come to terms with no prisons and jails, we will continue to advocate for Prison and Criminal Justice reforms.

Posts here are NOT always my work. See disclaimer in the 'about' section. This blog serves as a Public Service Announcement.